All telephone systems need signaling. Signaling provides a number of functions, including, supervising (e.g., line status: busy, idle, etc.), alerting (indicating arrival of a call), and addressing (routing and destination signals). Caller Identification (“Caller-ID” or “CID”) signaling is the method of transmitting signaling to Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) for the reception of Caller-ID and other signals. Caller-ID is a generic term most commonly applied to the service provided by a phone company where the Caller-ID signaling is issued be the switching equipment of the telephone company (only once), immediately before or after a first ring indicative of an incoming call.
For testing and troubleshooting purposes, telephone network field service personnel have conventionally employed recording oscilloscopes to capture the signaling. However, these oscilloscopes require specific technical knowledge for proper operation. Moreover, the oscilloscope cannot analyze data; it only presents the waveforms it captures in graphical format.
A number of patents exist which relate to telephony signal capture and analysis including, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,370,484, 6,370,244, 6,349,134, 6,226,369, 6,215,854, 6,058,172, 5,937,034, 5,910,976, 5,737,400, 5,675,609, and 4,467,148 all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a more simplified method of capturing telephony signaling in the field. There is also a need in the art for a system that allows transfer of this data for analysis. Moreover, a need exists for a software analysis method that is simpler and more user friendly.
The present invention is designed to address these needs.